Home and Abroad Pledge

Pledge your support for academic freedom at home and abroad

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s “Commitment to Campus Free Expression at Home and Abroad” offers universities a guiding principle to embrace in its agreements and contracts with governments and nongovernmental organizations: Student and faculty free speech and academic freedom rights are of paramount importance.

While universities’ partnerships can provide benefits to students and faculty, they can also pose serious threats to the expressive rights of academic communities — especially partnerships with governments that severely restrict or punish speech. Now is the time for universities to reassess existing partnerships and plan ahead for future agreements.

I would be proud to see my institution publicly endorse this statement and assure its academic community that academic freedom and freedom of expression will be primary considerations in foreign and domestic partnerships. By signing this petition, I am publicly indicating that I support this statement and ask that my institution adopt it as guiding policy.

Commitment to Campus Free Expression at Home and Abroad

[COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY NAME] recognizes that freedom of expression and academic freedom are vital to education and research. [NAME] also recognizes that partnerships with governments, non-governmental organizations, and other institutions offer benefits such as specialized research, training, resources, and opportunities — but may also pose threats to institutional autonomy and student and faculty rights.

To that end, [NAME] will guarantee that any existing or future agreements, grants, or contracts signed by [COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY] do not and will not threaten the academic freedom or expressive rights of any members of its academic community, and [NAME] will embrace transparency by making public the conditions of those grants or contracts. [NAME] will ensure that any students or faculty members planning to study or teach at satellite campuses or engage in scholarship abroad under a [COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY]-managed program are notified in writing of any restrictions on speech or academic freedom they should expect to face.

SIGNATORIES:

Donald Downs
Emeritus Professor
University of Wisconsin-Madison

David Ross
Professor of Mathematics
Rochester Institute of Technology

Tim Shiell
Professor and Director, Center for the Study of Institutions and Innovation
University of Wisconsin-Stout

Geoffrey Stone
Edward H. Levi Distinguished Professor of Law
The University of Chicago